www.CostaRicaTicas.com

They opened up S-L-O-W-L-Y during the latter half of January. First the outdoor bar...then the restaurant...and finally pulled out all the stops on February 1st, "Opening Day." I hope the operation succeeds...it will provide a nice alternative to the other venues in the neighborhood.

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Blue Devil

Pura Vida...enjoying life to the fullest...

well me and my bro stayed at the hotel castillo this past weekend so we eat there alot. i had the roast pork with peppercorn sauce and it was very good,,so was their steaks, and for lunch the chicken club was very good and even the bread was tasty and fresh. the staff is very frendly and helpfull.. guiselle the back bartender speaks good english and is a lot of fun...enjoy

I met both owners at the back bar with Darren. Seemed like nice guys. And I ate a couple of meals and can say the food has improved 90%. And meet a couple of nice guys at the bar. The place has everything going for it and should do well.

Even caught Darren there late at night drinking without the Espousa. But I am not starting any rumors.

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Take a walk on the wild side.

I am staying at Castillo right now and hjave eaten at the Garden 4-5 times and every meal as been excellent .portions are very ampleand happy hour at the bars are running from 5-8 every night .The local talent seems to flow in and out and are very nice on the eyes.
I have to say this place is a great place.

Okay, I told Tom I would give him a plug so here goes; both the bad and the good. I ate at the Garden Restaurant one afternoon. I ordered the Lomito with Salsa de hongos termino medio, and when they finally got the order right, the steak was pretty good. The problem was they delivered the wrong steak, just lomito, with no sauce and it was well done. I explained this to the bartender in Spanish and she seemed to understand. Tom mysteriously disappeared during this period, so I suspect he went into the kitchen to inspire more attention to detail. Once the meal was served for the second time, it was correct and the meat was tender, cooked to the correct termination and delicious. Other than the screw up, I give the meal a solid 8.5. Tom seems like a good guy and the staff is relatively customer service oriented and friendly. So, please consider having a meal there.

We have been in touch with Tom and a CRT Discount will be in place shortly stay tuned.

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Thank you for supporting CRT!

will be in town next week, good to hear it's going good, i love that little place

I'm glad to see Tom is following through with this. It will be a "win-win" for everyone.

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Blue Devil

Pura Vida...enjoying life to the fullest...

Tom told me he was going to do this about a month ago . It will be good for everyone. He has the opportunity to have a really cool place.

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its the land of hoodoo , voodoo & all kinds of wierd shit.

Has anyone been by the Gardens lately, its been awhile since there has been an update. I will be staying at the Castillo in a couple weeks and this seems like a good spot for a meal or two if its still on the A list.

GringoBill,

Well the in the food dept. The Garden was making great strides with the capable assistance of a gringo Chef trained at CIA. The Pork tenderloin in raspberry sauce was outstanding as were the seafood specials. The down side is INS paid a visit one morning and checked credentials and although he is married to a Tica and has bebe, his work visa had not been completed. This happened on or about April 21. The owners were working with their lawyers to complete the required paperwork. I can tell you the cocina is much cleaner than it was in Feb.

As for the bar scene. Business has picked up, Chrisitina and Gizelle are very good at barkeeping and the p/t independants appear to have discovered a captured crowd from Castillo. Great HH specials.

One suggestion to Tom, keep steady hours. One Friday night the back bar was 2 deep and girls a plenty, the next night Javier gives Last call at 10:00pm you confuse potential repeat clientel.

I was under the impression that the rear patio bar was to be closed at 9 pm, so as to make it quiet for the hotel guests in the rear section.

Thanks HB, I guess I will have to check it out, hopefully they kept their chef.

This happened in the streetside bar on a Saturday night.

I visited twice in the past month and both times it was a bit lacking..Too bad,because it has great potential.

We ate at the back bar and the tables were a mish mash of made up, dirty, occupied or empty , with or without tablecloths and silver.

The waiter/host/bartender, phone talker, DJ and busboy, all the job of one person, the former maitre de at dos gringos, was doing his best but it was impossible for him to be all things at once....they needed to give him some help...heck at $2.00 hour it's a no brainer.

thus when running back and forth to the front kitchen and trying to service the bar, wait on us and the other tables...well not a good experience, and to top it off we were eating off the dinner menue which isn't cheap ...I let it slide and didn't complain

I decided to take another friend there a week later and basically the same scene..his food came so much after mine that it was cold and he sent it back and settled for a couple of rum and cokes for dinner..

Basically just give the guy in the back bar some help and i think it would be alright because the place has some nice ambiance and the food was more or less alright